This is unreal. How does my Malibu with all of the bells and whistles, ballast tanks and wedge, engine and prop, and the other 500 moving parts, give me 1/10 the amount of headaches as my simple trailer?????

My Extreme trailer has become such a nightmare it is seriously stressing me out from making river trips. I can't seem to go one year without some catastrophe happening, and it always seems to happen in the middle of the 40 freeway between Barstow and Needles in 110 degree heat!

I could rant for pages about each year's trailer issue and being broken down on the side of the freeway, but I'd rather hear everyone else's in the hopes it will make me feel better.

86 nautique 2001 trailer. Bearing fails going 50 mph on the way home from the lake. Wheel flys off and I drag the trailer axel to a stop. Thank god there was no one behind me or that wheel would have done some serious damage. Ended up having to replace the axel. When I took it apart the U bold holding the axel were paper thin from dragging. Who knows how much more damage if they had let go. That was the worst thing that has happened to us but over all the trailer has been much more of a headache than the boat.

1. I'm right there with you. Three years ago bearning fails and find out about it unloading boat at the launch. This was after a 150 mile trip. Who knows how long the wheel was just hanging there. I too, am thankful that wheel never left the trailer. Everything looked normal in my rearview mirror until I saw the wheel blazing red.
2. 2 winters ago, water froze in one of the beams and caused it to split.
3. Last sunday after a great 5 day camping/ boating trip we were nearly home and the dang tire blew. I hate changing tires in 100 degree heat. Plus one of the lugs gave me a fit and it took all I had to get that thing off. Love my boat, but hate trailers.

^ I had a brake cylinder seize, heated up the surge brakes, melted grease, outer bearing failed, drove an undisclosed distance with the hub riding on the axle YIKES! How I didn't lose the tire/wheel is beyond me, I thank whoever was looking over me and good fortune every single day for being privileged to have the family boat to play and that I didn't kill it, anyone else or myself in the process of that near miss.

I was towing about 30 miles to the ramp, all was good and then some guy starts honking at me and saying something about my wheel. I pull over and my bearing is smoking and has completely failed. It had heated up enough where it has warped and I could not get the thing torn apart to fix on the road. Had to pay a special tow truck 350 dollars to tow to the dealer. When it was said and done I ended buying a new trailer that I got for cheap, no problems since buying the new trailer.

Snowmobile trailers are always fun lol. The best is when youre going down a hill a idle and even still the truck brakes and trailer brakes wont stop you... Whenever I leave my buddies cabin thats how it is. Not fun at all.

Was pulling our old prostar 205 to the lease we have at the river and the next thing i know there are sparks flying from the trailer. I get out of the truck and the wheel and flow off and all the lugs where cut off clean. Called my dad up since he was 30 min behind me and he had to find a store that was still open since it was already dark and he bought new lug nuts and bolts. I had to find the tire which was in a ditch a couple hundred yards back.

Multiple tire blow outs on 100+ degree days.

Towed the boat an hour to the river and when we go to drop the boat in the latch pin is bent and wont come out. Took about an hour of prying and banging to free it up.

Recently noticed that the tubing was complety cut in two the other day and had to get it welded up.

Had a '02 Xstar, walked out one day to see the trailer sitting on the tire, axel failure...at least it was in the drive way and not on the road. Delaer sent me and new one under warrenty.

'06 Supra 24v on the way to a weekend trip I pull over to find two tire coming apart. Find a Firestone (onyl guys open on Sundays) all they have are Bias Ply, have all four installed. On the way home, blow two of them out due to the heat on the road and scuffing one on the rock "curb" at the camp site.

Last week with the Supra we are 5 hours away from home as I pull out of the camp site I hear a bang like I hit somthing. Get out dont see anything, just assume I went over a large rock or root. Get home, unpack, go to put the boat up in storage and find that the bang was an axel failure. Made if 5 hours in 95-98 degree heat with one of the tire riding on the inside tread only, really cant complain about the Carlise tires...

i have had 3 new boats with trailers since 06 and every boatmate trailer has been a mess. Bunks falling off. brakes not working, the actuator failed. Fender boats stripped, loose, etc etc. its always the same crap. I tow 4 times a week, so i understand i use it a lot. plus our lake is 80 miles each way on the weekends, but i have junk cargo trailers that have been beaten to death and never give me one ounce of trouble. not sure, must be bad carma

I have never had good luck with boat trailers either. Every trailer I have had has been a total piece of crap. I do tow a lot of miles (200+ miles round trip on the weekends) but between brake caliper issues, rattles that I can never find, I once lost a wheel on the freeway (pretty sure that was my fault) that tore off my fender and unusual tire wear that leads to blow outs......I can't catch a break.

never had a real big problem with my VM trailer, but I do know my brakes have never been working right since brand new! I've bled them a few times, but some how the resovoir keeps going dry, and I see no leaks!

So what's the deal? Why cant we have quality trailers? How come my car doesn't have 1/10th the issues as my trailer? I am spending by far more money on tires and on the trailer than on the boat itself.

You're car would probably have the same amount of issues if you let it sit for 9 months out of the year without moving, sometimes outside in the cold, and then decided to take it on long trips in 100+ degree heat, then immediately dunk it in cool water. Just saying...

its poor materials and poor assembly. theses companies build them as cheap as possible. my brand new boat mate 2012 for my 244 enzo came with bent bunk supports, they where bent away from the bunks, then someone just tried to bolt the bunk to it, but the bolts where not even close to screwing into the wood, redic. the 3rd time I launch the boat. the bunch fell off and i had to have my buddies hang on the boat while i fixed the trailer.

Trailers require yearly service just like the boat which lots of folks overlook until they have a problem. Trailer bearings need repacked and preload and brakes adjusted. Most bearing failure is caused from water contaminating the grease. When you tow everything heats up which causes expansion. When you launch the water causes things to contract which will eventually pull water in to the hub. Over time with no service you will have bearing failure caused by water contaminating the grease but with yearly maintenance you should have no problems. As for tires most failures are from over heating and towing to fast. If you look at the speed rating on most trailer tires you will see they are not designed for speeds over 65 MPH which many of us including myself don't follow. I do however on long tows keep the speed to 65

After 6 1/2 years of relatively maintenance free service one of my bearings finally gave way this past weekend about 3/4 through the 100 mile trip home from the lake. After the tow up on Friday I noticed one of the bearing buddies had released the pressure and dropped a few grease blobs on the inside of the wheel. I knew I was going to have issues soon but I thought it would at least make it home. I pulled over once I was about 20 miles into the tow but it was when the ambient air is 110 degrees everything is too hot to touch so I could not tell if it was running hot. Things looked normal until I pulled into the gas station 25 miles from home and this is what I found when I got out. I just backed the good tire up on a curb and pulled the tire off with my hands (it came straight off, no tools, even though I carry them if needed)l Tossed it on the swim platform with a bungee to keep it there and drove home on 3 wheels going the backroads under 40mph (second time doing this, first was after a blowout). Total delay less than an hour. I don't know how or why it didn't come off on it's own, I consider myself extremely lucky. Nice thing about torsion bar UFP axles is that one bolt and the entire arm, spindle, and hub come off. The replacement is less than $100, it will be on my doorstep in 2 days. I am sold on torsion bar trailers. I am going to go ahead and replace the U-turn worn tire and rotate the torsion arms 2 clicks to raise my low-rider trailer ride height by about one inch while I am in there. Repack and new brakes before next weekend too since they are obviously overdue.

In the last year I have had both front brake calipers on my trailer seize up and the rear ones had cracked and dry rotted seals around the pistons. Went ahead and installed 4 new calipers and repacked all the bearings. One of the new wheel seals leaked from the moment I put it back together and another one started leaking shortly there after. Knocking bearing caps and inspecting bearing will now be a part of my yearly summarization.

Eagle trailer for the family's tige - came with C rated tires, sticker on the trailer specs out D, needless to say both blew out after 8 yrs. I don't think that's unreasonable to last since the trailer mainly is idle, but using the wrong tire - hello?! The D rated goodyears on there now roll nice at max(recommended) psi

Just happend the other day on the way out to the lake. Luckily I have a keen sense of when something doesnt feel right. In this case it was a slight vibration in the truck steering wheel. pulled over to find the tread on my 2012 X25 demalinated from the core. Tire was still holding air and did not blow - thank god!!

I am starting to wonder if the boat/trailer weight are on the upper limit of the max load limit for the tires installed. I seem to recall that the factory LP tires have a Max load of about 1500lbs each. Thats 6000lbs total for a boat/trailer and 200L of gas weighing in at 5700lbs. IMO thats too close to the upper limit.

My truck has been popping fuses quite a bit the last while. The day I leave for my 2 weeks holiday I realize I have no right turn stop light or signal. I check all the fuses and everything is fine. I ended up being "that guy" on the highway with only one working light. At least it was day time and relatively quiet road but I still hated every minute of it. Did all the trouble shooting to see what the issue may be. Ended up being the green wire between the front of the trailer and the light was bad. Not sure if it shorted on something or what as I can't pull it out to look. I have a spool of wire ready to go back up with me this weekend to splice in and solve the issue. I also had to zap strap my 5 flat to my 7 round otherwise it had a loose connection and my lights would flicker or work on and off. Fricken trailers!

Two boats ago—bought a used Monterey at dealership about 100 miles away. Took it for a test cruise no problem. Didn’t really think about the trailer… Anyway on the way home the first thing that happens is the rear deck cover over the engine blows open and almost rips off. The cover faces toward the bow and is not secured well. We stop and fix that and get on our merry way. After about another 20 miles on the interstate, I start thinking about when I was a kid and my father and I are going to the lake and the bearing overheats on our wooden river boat. About that time I look in the right rear view mirror and you guessed it, smoke is billowing from right side. We stopped poured water on hub and stopped the fire on our uninsured just purchased boat. We call the dealership and get the run around and they suggest we take that wheel off and see if we can make it home. It had dual wheels (but not dual axels). Sure enough it works.

We get home get a new tire and bearing and head to the lake. We used the boat a few times with no major issues until one day we pull it out and one of the leaf springs snaps. Again we limp back, take it to the trailer repair shop and shell out jack for another spring.

The boat constantly flooded as it had a carb that always had a stuck float. It would start like a boss the first time but as the boat got hot, the float would stick and flood the engine What a total pain in the ass. Last straw was when we took it out one day and the power trim burned up when we were trying to start it while flooded. I guess there was too much heat running to starter and by the power trim wires. We can’t get the boat out of the normal ramp because the foot was dragging. We take it over to a small dirt ramp and start to pull it out but it still drags too much. We get the idea to flip the trailer hitch over to drop the tongue and lower the front of boat and raise the stearn. Finally we get it out and said, “I don’t care if it hair lips the Pope we are trading this Mother Fu&ker. We get a mechanic out to come fix the trim and we take it home and polish it up and plan for the trade in the near future.

We found a Cobalt and the salesman we bought the Monterey was now at Cobalt place. We drove the Cobalt and liked it. We hooked Big Blue (the Monterey) to the truck and headed west. About 40 miles down the road, right side, you guessed it..This time just a flat tire. It was about 125 degrees on the side of the road but no problem, we have done this before..just take of the tire and take it to the tire place… no biggie. Well this time it was the rear tire and when we tried it, the front tire started rubbing on the wheel well. Damn. I stopped got out and figured, OK just take it off, leave the POS on the side of road and go get the tire fixed. On the bright side somebody might hit it and total it or maybe find a way to steal the beast.

I unhooked the boat and went to Son’s tire in local small town realizing that our time to get to the dealership was slipping by. We had to wait by while “Son” fixed a little donut sized tire on a hover round but he finally got to us. He said he didn’t have a trailer tire but had a passenger car tire. I asked if it would get us 60 miles and he said no problem. Got the tire in the back of the truck while the hover round was being loading on the lift behind the Towncar.

Got back on the interstate and drove to the boat and
started putting the tire on and after about 3 minutes noticed I was covered in ants. Biting fire ants. FRICK. I was sweating like… and thought “this is how mother fuKers have heart attacks. Finally got a towel from the truck and stood on it until the ant got close and then jumped off shook of the towel and started again. This increased the tire change time by about 30 minutes but we finally got it done.

Whew on the way to dealer. Damn, forgot the cashier check for the difference. No big deal I thought, there is a SunTrust bank at the next exit. Of course I look like a pulp wooder by this time and walked in and said I need a $15,000 cashier’s check and may I use your bathroom. Somehow I pulled that off and hit the road again.

Got to the dealership and did the paper work while they swapped the boats and trailer behind my truck. They said “did you know your hitch was upside down? We fixed it for you.” I just said thanks and hauled ass out of there.

now that the boat has been back on the water this year I have towed extensively.
it has for sure been 2000+ miles so far since spring that I have towed her.

I repacked the bearings before use this summer, checked tire pressures regularly, bought a new spare rim/tire, went over all the lights and we have hit the road with my unknown year trailer with zero problems.

doing a thorough inspection or paying someone to do it for you must go a long way. I'm not saying that it will solve all problems but it should solve most.

I know this is old but if you're having tire problems I suggest gladiator tires. Their specialty is big tires but they started making small ones a while ago. gladiator qr25 ts is the line to look for. The only brand I've yet to have a blow out on. Also, no sign of dry rot/cracks after two years. I can't say the same for Goodyear (their trailer tires are total garbage), Carlisle, can't remember the others I've tried.

I do good maintance on the trailers (tire pressure, grease, preload) but here is my list of some trailer problems that I remember - which are mostly tires:

New utility trailer has a wheel fall off and pass me down the interstate: broken lugs. Not sure what that was about since it was new.

Jet ski trailer bearing failure: it was greased but it must have gotten water in it. Not much of the bearing and grease was left. Vibration shook off a light.

Jet ski trailer blows a Carlisle tire for no good reason. Vibration breaks off another light. End up standing in fire ants as well!

Bought a catamaran, pull it a few miles, notice wheel wobbling. One lug nut is left. Luckily found 1 that fell off down the road. Got me to walmart to buy more. It was stupid of me to not check, but the guy just changed tires on it and clearly doesn't know how to tighten lug nuts. The other side was pretty loose as well.

When I bought my boat, the brake actuator was bad. Replaced, went around the block to test it, after several stops the wheels lock up: both calipers are seized. Had to take off two wheels and drive it back on two wheels.

I have had my trailer for 10 years with only simple maintenance via the bearing buddies. However my disk brakes were not doing so well with our mountain passes will alway get them hot even though shifting down will hold my speed back without the use of the service brakes.

New disks and bearings later, we just finished a 2000 mile round trip trouble free. Interesting note however was my trailer repair shop advised me not to go with the sealed oil bearings that the grease is still the way to go. Said the oil does not do well on the boat trailers. Anybody else have experience with this on trailers that get used frequently? The Vault bearings that many of the upper line trailer manufactures use were supposed to be a premium product but feedback would be great.

New disks and bearings later, we just finished a 2000 mile round trip trouble free. Interesting note however was my trailer repair shop advised me not to go with the sealed oil bearings that the grease is still the way to go. Said the oil does not do well on the boat trailers. Anybody else have experience with this on trailers that get used frequently? The Vault bearings that many of the upper line trailer manufactures use were supposed to be a premium product but feedback would be great.

I have the Vault system on my 08 Boatmate and they are much better than the 2006 era oil bearing system. The little allen heads would back out of the oil bearing caps and shoot oil all over the wheels. The vault system actually uses a grease instead of oil. I know because one of my Vault bearing caps came off at a gas station last year. I was close to home but still spewed grease on that wheel towing back home. UFP quickly took care of the problem, sent me a new cap, new grease canister and zirc fitting that screwed into the bearing to refill the grease. The vault caps are only held on by pressure and red locktite, which makes me a little nervous, but I haven't had any other issues with the other 3 bearings in 5 years of service. Grease is still probably the most reliable as long as you keep them filled up.

used to ride a bunch in salt water. Trailer rot is a given but I had a bearing fail.
1st boat - I noticed it when taking off from a light, couldn't have been like that for more than 5 miles. limped home and replaced both hubs.

2nd and current boat -

trailer rot, brake lines corroded to nothing. no other issues.

replaced trailer with Aluminum welded trailer - love it!
recent trip arriving at 1:30a to the camp. 10:30a neighbor comes down the street where I am asking about the boat across from his site, I claimed it, he said it looks like I have a flat and offered to help, I thanked him and told him I will just change it with my spare and fix or replace later. I walked back to the site.

Yup some fix a flat with fix that right up, LOL. I had no idea it unraveled, 1.5hr tow with a truck camper rv in the bed, boat in tow and air bags at 70psi. 6.4 f250 diesel.

Last edited by olmoomba; 09-18-2012 at 4:30 PM.
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